


I Smell A Rat

by Art3misiA



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Divergence, Gen, The murder of the Potters, This will break your heart and I'm sorry but I'm also not, everything is not as it seems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:28:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27145927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Art3misiA/pseuds/Art3misiA
Summary: It is October 31st, 1981. Wormtail has given Voldemort the location of the Potters, and he plans to strike that very night. But even the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 2
Collections: Fun or Fright





	I Smell A Rat

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my alpha, Zorak23, and beta, Anne_Ammons!

**  
_  
31st October, 1981_ **

Voldemort paced impatiently in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor. It was almost time. Soon, he would be victorious. Soon, the threat the Prophecy had spoken of would be eliminated, enabling him to continue his mission unopposed. Thanks to that snivelling sycophant, Wormtail, he had the location of the Potters, and tonight, he would strike.

He looked up as his loyal followers, masked and hooded, entered in response to his earlier summons. One by one, he directed them to take their places at the long wooden table; they removed their masks and drew back their hoods as they sat. Once all were present, Voldemort took his place at the table’s head.

To his immediate right was Bellatrix, and on his left, Severus. Barty sat beside Bellatrix, followed by Rodolphus; Lucius was next to Severus. Wormtail, normally at the far end of the table, had tonight been elevated to a place of honour about halfway down the left-hand side, and was smirking proudly over his unaccustomed status while the others looked on in barely concealed confusion. Of course, nobody dared ask about the change in seating arrangements; to question Voldemort was to incur his wrath.

“My friends,” he announced, “tonight, we have achieved a great victory. Thanks to Wormtail, I now know the location of the Potters.”

All heads swiveled to regard Wormtail, who was preening at the attention. The room was deathly silent as they waited for Voldemort to continue.

“Wormtail was their secret-keeper,” he continued after a long pause. “Being loyal to me, he of course divulged this information at the first opportunity.”

No one spoke; they barely breathed. It amused him to see them all in such a state of shock. 

“Don’t you think you should thank him? He has ensured we may continue our great mission.”

Murmured congratulations and thanks followed his prompting, and Wormtail’s chest inflated even further. If he didn’t stop puffing up soon, there was a good chance he would explode. Pathetic, cowardly man. So quick to betray the people who had been his dearest friends for the sake of a brief taste of fame.

Beside him, Severus cleared his throat.

“My Lord—what do you intend to do, now that you know their location?”

Voldemort chuckled. “Why, Severus, surely you know the answer to that question.”

The dark-haired man swallowed. “Please, my Lord—forgive me—your promise—” 

Severus slid from his chair and knelt at Voldemort’s feet, head bowed in supplication, cold hands clutching at his master’s robes.

“Yes, yes, Severus. I remember. I shall spare the woman.” 

He wouldn’t, but he didn’t need to tell _him_ that. The foolish, lovesick man would find out soon enough.

“Thank you, my Lord. I am forever in your debt.”

“Return to your seat. I grow tired of your grovelling.”

Silently, Severus did as he was told. 

“May I ask when you will take action, my Lord?”

“You may. I shall do the deed tonight, catch them unawares. They think they are safe in Godric’s Hollow; but they are not.”

“Are—are you sure, my Lord?” Severus asked quietly. 

Voldemort frowned.

“Careful, Severus. Remember your place.”

“Yes, my Lord, of course. It’s just that—perhaps you should take the time to observe the property, watch for anything that might be amiss or out of the ordinary. It—it could be a trap!”

Voldemort burst out laughing, and the others joined in. 

“Oh, Severus, you are too amusing. A trap? Don’t be absurd. Wormtail has assured me the Potters believe themselves to be utterly hidden and undetectable. Isn’t that right, Wormtail?” 

He turned to look at his servant.

“Yes, yes, my Lord. They have no idea of what’s coming to them. They trust me completely.” 

Wormtail let out a high-pitched giggle.

“See?” Voldemort said, turning back to Severus. “I will go this very evening and kill the child; and then we will have no further obstacles in our way.” 

Turning to Lucius, he said, “Have your elves bring wine. We will celebrate.” 

“Yes, my Lord.” Lucius bowed and followed orders. 

No one noticed the pensive, calculating expression that fleetingly crossed Wormtail’s face, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.   
  


* * *

  
Later that evening, close to midnight, Voldemort Apparated to the small enclave, Godric’s Hollow. He found the location of the Potter house easily, although it was hidden by a notice-me-not charm and so at first glance it looked like an empty, overgrown lot. He set to work breaking down the wards as stealthily as possible. He didn’t want to give them so much as a minute’s warning, lest they try to escape. He had to have the element of surprise completely at his disposal.

Finally, he had torn down the last of the protections, and the house was revealed. It was a small two-story cottage, just the kind of place one would expect a young family to live. He opened the gate, moved purposefully up the path, and unlocked the door easily. In the entranceway, he was met by the boy's father. 

“How did you—” his eyes widened behind his round spectacles as realisation hit him.

A red-haired woman, the one Severus had spoken about, appeared at the top of the stairs. 

“James, what’s—” she stopped short and screamed when she saw who had come for them.

“Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!” James called in a panic. 

Voldemort sneered. Arrogant man, thinking he could defend his family from one as powerful as the dark wizard standing before him. He could hear her moving frantically upstairs, grabbing what he assumed was the child and trying to flee. It would do no good, of course - he had already cast powerful anti-Apparition charms around the house, and she would not have time to remove them before he reached her.

Turning to James, he immediately cast the killing curse. The bespectacled man crumpled, lifeless, to the floor, his eyes open and glassy. Voldemort moved forward, stepping indifferently over the corpse and making his way up the stairs.

Voldemort followed the sounds of the child's squalls and Lily's quiet sobbing as she attempted to comfort her son. He reached a closed door at the end of the corridor and forced his way through, using another spell to blast away the furniture she had hurriedly stacked in front of it.

She was standing in the corner of the nursery, clutching the boy to her chest; tears flowed freely down her face.

“Please, _please,_ not Harry,” she begged. “Kill me instead!”

“I only want the boy. Give him to me, and I shall let you live.”

“No! I won’t! You can never have him!”

“Hand over the child, woman! Do it now!” he demanded. 

He wanted this done. The threat must be destroyed, once and for all.

Still, she refused to comply. Tiring of this game, Voldemort raised his wand. At the same time that he cast _Avada Kedavra,_ she cried out a spell of her own, words he had never heard before.

“ _Eliminare Inimicus!”_

All he felt then was incredible pain, a tearing, a _wrenching,_ and Voldemort knew no more.  
  


* * *

  
Peter had followed Severus, unnoticed, when the former Slytherin snuck out not long after Voldemort left. He knew exactly where his fellow Death Eater was going, and exactly what the man would find.

The heartbreaking sounds of Harry’s high-pitched, terrified wails drifted down the stairs as he stepped over the threshold of the open door. He quickly cast a silencing charm, lest the Muggles that lived in the village hear the commotion and come to investigate. They would find it strange enough to discover a house had appeared out of nowhere overnight. All their memories would need to be modified, but he was not capable of such powerful magic. 

Looking down at his feet, he discovered James, his arms splayed out where he had fallen. His heart clenched painfully to see his best friend's still form. 

"Oh, Prongs," he sighed. 

Peter crouched down to remove James's spectacles so he could gently close his staring eyes, then folded his glasses and laid them on his chest. Casting a _Disillusionment_ charm, he made his way up the stairs to where he knew Harry’s room was and peeked in, knowing what he would see. He was afraid, but knew that he needed to look regardless.

Severus was crumpled on the floor, holding Lily’s lifeless body to his chest and screaming his grief, while Harry, forgotten, contributed his own cries. Peter felt tears flow down his own face at the sight. He desperately wanted to rush into the room, to grab Harry and get him to safety, but he knew he could not. He had to stick to the plan, at all costs. It was the only way. His thoughts turned back to the discussion he’d had with James and Lily only a few nights ago.

_“Peter, Lily and I have made an important decision, and we must ask for your help once more in order to protect Harry.”_

_“Yes, James, of course. You know I’ll do anything for you both.”_

_Lily took a deep breath to steady herself and took James’s hand in hers._

_“You need to betray our location to Voldemort.”_

_“What?_ **_No!_ ** _Are you both mad?” Peter jumped up from his seat on the couch, upsetting the teacup that had been balancing on his knee. It fell to the floor and smashed, although he didn’t notice in his distress._

_James shook his head. “It’s the only way, Peter. He’ll find us, one way or the other. We can’t hide forever.”_

_“Yes you can! Dumbledore will move you! We’ll make Sirius your secret keeper again! We’ll—”_

_“No. We have a plan. We’re going to set a trap for him,” Lily said. “We have a spell, one we know will destroy him. He’s weak; we know that. The dark magic he’s used, whatever it is, has done something to him, something irreparable. His body and his magic are both unstable.”_

_“I won’t do it!” Peter insisted. “He’ll kill you both, he’ll kill you all! I won’t have that on my conscience, I would never betray my friends.”_

_“You wouldn’t be betraying us; you’d be helping us protect Harry,” James argued._

_“Please, Peter,” Lily pressed. “James and I are prepared to sacrifice our lives to protect Harry and stop Voldemort. If you truly love us, I beg of you - say you’ll do it.”_

_“What if it doesn’t work?” he asked fearfully._

_“It_ **_will_ ** _work. I created the spell myself. It will compromise his weakened state; he won’t be able to withstand it.”_

_Peter gave Lily a watery smile. “You were always brilliant at spells. Better than anyone else,” he said softly._

_He looked at each of them in turn, at their anxious, pinched faces, and thought about how much he did love them._

_“All right. I’ll do it.”  
  
_

* * *

  
He shrunk back from the door as he tried to suppress a sob. His two good friends were dead and their son an orphan because of his actions. True, they had asked him to reveal their whereabouts and he had agreed, but he was responsible, nonetheless.

Now, he had to disappear, to wait and hide until it was safe to go to Dumbledore. The aging wizard would protect him until all this could be sorted out. He knew Sirius would think Peter had betrayed Lily and James to the dark wizard out of cruelty, not realising that he was in fact a spy for the light. Only three people had known of his double life; and two of them were now beyond the veil. The one remaining person who knew the full story would vouch for him when the time came.

Peter knew Harry would not be alone for long - Dumbledore, of course, had also known of the plan and would be here at any moment.

“Goodbye, Harry, and good luck,” he whispered sadly.

Concentrating, he retreated into his animagus form, and with a flick of his tail, scurried away from the scene. 

**Author's Note:**

> “Eliminare Inimicus" = (roughly translated and entirely made up) eliminate/cast out + enemy


End file.
